DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, 10 April 2015 – The results of a National Nutrition Survey released in Tanzania show that between 2010 and 2014, chronic malnutrition – stunting, or low height for age – among children under five in the country fell from 42 per cent to 35 per cent.

"Undernutrition, and especially stunting, is one of the silent crises for children in Tanzania," said UNICEF Representative in Tanzania Dr Jama Gulaid. "Malnutrition has severe consequences. It blunts the intellect, saps the productivity of everyone it touches and perpetuates poverty. The success we are celebrating today is due to increased political commitment and improved coordination mechanisms for nutrition since 2011.”

In 2011, Tanzania became a key partner in the major global initiative called the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement, which is bringing much needed focus and investment for nutrition in a number of countries. President Jakaya M. Kikwete became a member of the high-level international SUN Lead Group and played a key role in the promotion of the nutrition agenda at the international level and in Tanzania.

“These results are very encouraging. The hidden crisis of chronic malnutrition is robbing thousands of our children of their full potential and hampering the social and economic progress of Tanzania”, said Mr. Obey Assery, SUN Focal Person for Tanzania.

The Government of Tanzania launched a five-year National Nutrition Strategy (2011-2016) with an Implementation Plan which guides actions by ministries, departments, agencies and local government authorities, as well as development partners.

The Government is also tracking investments in nutrition. In 2014, The Ministry of Finance conducted the first Public Expenditure Review of the nutrition sector and first Joint Multi-sectoral Review of Nutrition analysing the implementation of the first three years of the National Nutrition Strategy.

“Despite the achievements, child malnutrition remains an important challenge in Tanzania. All of us here in the country – government, communities, UNICEF and others – must redouble our efforts to combat this problem,” Dr Gulaid added.

According to estimates, Tanzania still has more than 2.7 million children under five who are stunted. More than 430,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition. Among these are some 100,000 diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition, which means they have a high risk of dying if they do not receive appropriate treatment.

Stunting can permanently impair a child’s physical and cognitive development, trapping them into a cycle of poverty and inequity. The damage often leads to poorer school performance, leading to future income reductions of up to 22 per cent on average. As adults, they are also at increased risk of illness and disease.

The National Nutrition Survey was conducted in 2014 by the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Nutrition Unit of the Zanzibar Ministry of Health, with the technical and financial support of UNICEF, Irish AID and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

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About UNICEF

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org

At a rural girls’ school in northern Tanzania, staff know that education is the first step to empowering their students. Ask them what the second step is, and they will say mobile phones.

When a woman has a mobile phone in rural Tanzania and other African countries, she has access to a number of tools and services that will help her succeed in life, according to Laura DeDominicis , executive director of Nurturing Minds — an Aid for Africa member. “A phone allows her to make secure banking transactions, monitor customer markets for her business, track changing weather patterns for her crops, and receive health care reminders and updates.”

At the SEGA School in Morogoro, Tanzania, each eleventh-grade graduate receives a mobile phone, thanks to Kidogo Kidogo, an organization that sells iPhone cases. Kidogo Kidogo is Swahili for “little by little.” When they sell two phone cases, Kidogo Kidogo donates a mobile phone, a phone number and 5,000 Tanzanian schillings of mobile credits to a woman in Tanzania.

Kidogo Kidogo has partnered with Nurturing Minds for two years to provide phones for all of their students graduating from the first level of secondary school, which is equivalent to eleventh grade in the U.S. system. Some of the graduates will continue their education in grades twelve and thirteen. Others will start businesses or attend vocational schools. In all cases, a phone is essential to success.

Nurturing Minds helps educate Tanzanian girls who are poor, marginalized and at-risk of becoming involved in exploitative forms of child labor. It supports the residential SEGA school for motivated Tanzanian girls who otherwise are unable to attend school due to extreme poverty.

SEGA graduate Rhoda was one of the students in Tanzania who passed the exams necessary to attend the last two years of “advanced level” secondary school. She is studying physics, chemistry and biology. Rhoda uses her phone to stay in touch with her family and friends and to receive money from home to pay for books and school fees. After graduation, Rhoda hopes to study business at a Tanzanian university and then to start a business of her own.

Other SEGA graduates are preparing for college and using their mobile phones to stay in contact with their support systems, including family, friends and SEGA teachers, which will ensure they achieve their goals.

Aid for Africa is an alliance of 85 U.S.-based nonprofits and their African partners who help children, families, and communities throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Aid for Africa’s grassroots programs focus on health, education, economic development, arts & culture, conservation, and wildlife protection in Africa.

LILONGWE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Malawi police are under orders to shoot anyone attacking albinos in the latest bid to crack down on a rising wave of violence against albinos in East Africa whose body parts are prized in black magic.

At least 15 people with albinism, mostly children, have been killed, wounded, abducted or kidnapped in East Africa in the past six months with a marked increase in Malawi, Tanzania and Burundi, according to the United Nations.

U.N officials said at least six attacks on albinos were reported in Malawi in the first 10 weeks of 2015 compared to four incidents over the previous two years and gangs were roaming the southern district of Machinga hunting for victims.

Tanzania has banned witchdoctors to try to stop the trade in body parts used in spells and charms claiming to bring luck, love and wealth, and Burundi is trying to safeguard albinos by accommodating them in housing with police protection.

The latest order came from Malawi's Inspector General of Police Lexen Kachama who instructed police to shoot any "dangerous criminals" caught abducting albinos, according to local media reports.

"Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism," said Kachama, adding that he was ordering police to use weapons in proportion to the crime.

"We cannot just watch while our friends with albinism are being killed like animals every day .. We do realise that these people are ruthless, have no mercy and therefore they need to be treated just like that."

A similar remark was made by Tanzania's Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in 2009 when he urged citizens to kill anyone on the spot if they were found with the limbs or organs of albinos who lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes.

Albino rights group have called for greater protection of albinos but said killing suspects was not going to deter criminals offered large sums of money for securing body parts as they were likely to still take the risk for the promised reward.

Witchdoctors will pay as much as $75,000 for a full set of albino body parts, according to a Red Cross report.

Vicky Ntetema, executive director of Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit organisation defending albino rights, said campaigners wanted justice for those people kidnapped, mutilated and murdered.

"But we have to remember that all those goons caught red-handed ... are small fish - agents and executors of the big sharks out there," she said.

"Killing them on the spot is not going to help us catch the inducers, those with money to hire these gangs who continue to terrorize innocent people with albinism and their families."

Ntetema urged police in Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi to quiz suspects to get information about the witchdoctors who use albino body parts and their clients.

"We all need to unite and find the culprits who are hiding behind the killers ... Why would people kill albinos if they were not asked to get their organs by someone?" she said.

The plight of people with albinism has worsened in East Africa in recent years, according to U.N. and police figures, with concerns that an election in Tanzania this year will prompt more attacks as politicians seek luck at the ballot box.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein last month urged African governments to combat impunity for crimes against people with albinism.

Albinism is a congenital disorder which affects about one in 20,000 people worldwide, according to medical authorities. It is more common in sub-Saharan Africa and affects about one Tanzanian in 1,400.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hon. Bernard K. Membe will lead the Tanzania Delegation to the Union of Comoros. This Summit will create Opportunities (fursa) for Tanzanian Businesses to trade with Comoros and vice versa.

The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Zanzibar, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education of Oman and Oman Academic Fellowship (OAF) Joint Committee is pleased to invite potential applicants of qualified Zanzibaris to apply for postgraduate scholarships under the Oman Academic Fellowship (OAF) Program.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

1. All applicants must be Zanzibaris.

2. Must not exceed 35 years of age for Masters and 45 years of age for PhD applicants.

3. Minimum GPA requirement for PhD and Masters Applicants shall be 3.7 out of 5 (equivalent to 3 out of 4). Preferences will be given to candidates with the highest GPAs.

4. Must have a score of at least 6.0 in (IELTS) or 550 in (paper based) TOEFL or equivalent in iBT TOEFL.

5. Must have specialized in a certain field of study with valid work experience. Noticeable accomplishments will be a plus.

6. Non-SUZA PhD and Masters Applicants should be residents of Tanzania at the time of application, and if employed by the government they should show proof of employment.

7. Non- SUZA candidates must sign a bond agreement stating that they will work for SUZA upon completion of their studies with minimum qualifications set by SUZA appointment guidelines, which include passing an oral interview. In case, the applicant does not qualify to work for SUZA. He/she should be assigned employment in other relevant units in the government.

8. All educational qualifications must be issued by accredited educational institutions and authenticated by credible educational bodies.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

 All applicants must fill out the electronic application through the Higher

CCBRT (www.ccbrt.or.tz) is a locally registered non-governmental organisation that comprises among other activities a well-established Disability Hospital which includes ophthalmology, orthopaedics, reconstructive surgery and obstetric fistula. A new 200-bed Maternity and Newborn Hospital is under construction. Together the Disability Hospital and the Maternity and Newborn Hospital will form the Super Specialist Hospital for the Eastern Zone of Tanzania.

CCBRT is willing to sponsor for the academic year 2015 – 2016 two (2) Medical Doctors for a postgraduate degree in Anaesthesiology at MUHAS.

Candidate’s requirement:

Tanzanian citizenship,

Holder of a Doctor of Medicine degree (MMed) with a minimum GPA of 2.7 at undergraduate level,

The MMed has been achieved in the last four years (not before 2010),

Have applied and be eligible for MMed programme in Anaesthesiology at MUHAS for the academic year 2015 - 2016

Three names of referees, two of whom must be academicians/professionals.

Sponsorship extension for the following three academic years up to the graduation, depends on good academic results.

After post graduation degree the anaesthesiologists will be a potential hires for CCBRT.

Marie Stopes Tanzania (MST) is a marketing-focused, results-oriented social enterprise, which uses modern management and marketing techniques to provide family planning, reproductive and sexual healthcare and allied services. MST is a member of the Marie Stopes International (MSI) Global Partnership, which operates in over 45 countries worldwide. MST’s goal is to improve quality of life in Tanzania by dramatically improving access to and use of family planning and other reproductive health services.

We are looking for dynamic individuals to join our highly motivated team in the following roles;

ASSISTANT MEDICAL OFFICER

Job purpose

The Assistant Medical Officer is responsible for provision of high quality integrated Reproductive Child Health Services and supervision of community demand creation in the outreach set up across Tanzania. The main focus of the post is to work independently in FP and VCT service delivery, ensuring the best clinical quality, and perform procedures in outreach set up in line with MSI Protocols. The Assistant Medical Officer reports directly to the Zonal Coordinator

Minimum requirements

 Diploma in Clinical medicine

 Registered with Medical Council of Tanganyika.

 4 years’ experience in clinical work internship inclusive

 Desirable: Experience of outreach service delivers

OUTREACH NURSES

Job purpose

The Outreach Nurse in collaboration with the Assistant Medical Officer is responsible for provision of high quality integrated Reproductive Child Health Services and community demand creation in the outreach set up across Tanzania. The main focus of the post is to work independently in FP and VCT service delivery, ensuring the best clinical quality, and perform procedures in outreach set up in line with MSI Protocols. The Outreach Nurse reports directly to the Zonal Coordinator

Key Responsibilities

 Work with the team to develop local plans with particular focus on maximizing access to family planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health and services and ensuring project target are met.

 Participate in evaluating, reporting and monitoring of the outreach performance.

 Work with outreach team to increase efficient client flow from information talk, through counselling, procedure and post procedure care;

 Practice good customer care by prioritizing the rights and the needs of clients;

 Comply diligently with MSI protocols for all procedures and for vocal local and infection prevention;

 Work with outreach teams to update knowledge of Family Planning methods for effective client counselling and drug dispensing practices;

 Provide clinical support to AMO/MO during medical procedures in the communities

Minimum requirements

 A Nursing Certificate.

 must be registered with relevant board and have a current nurses license

 Knowledge of and appropriate application of the nursing process in family planning and sexual and reproductive health is required

 Working knowledge of computers and basic programs

 Desire to meet and exceed expectations is highly required

 Putting clients at the center of everything

 Building and maintaining effective long term working relationship with all stakeholders;

 Desire to become a true Marie Stopes Ambassador.

Mode of Application

If you feel that you are able to meet the requirements and you are motivated enough to be part of the team, please send your applications including a cover letter detailing your suitability and why you are interested in this post to the address below. Please indicate the work station of your interest.